It Was At That Birthday Party
by It'sGonnaBeTotallyAwesome
Summary: Five years ago, Draco Malfoy never would've expected to find himself at Harry Potter's birthday. He never would've expected he'd become an Auror or be irked he was single - but he especially never expected to be attracted to Hermione Granger. One-shot.


**It Was At That Birthday Party**

"_It was at that birthday party, where I first met her, and I swear it was fate - the sparkle in her eyes caught me by surprise, I didn't wanna give myself away. . . ._"

- Nathan Angelo

Draco Malfoy leaned against the wall of Harry Potter's flat lazily, swishing the champagne in his wine glass around in circles. He watched the people milling about, socializing, reconciling, drinking, laughing, eating. It was Harry's big 2-2, and everyone wanted to be there. So, pretty much, they were. And though Harry made enough money to have a bigger flat . . . he didn't, claiming he 'didn't need one', which Draco thought was rubbish. The point was, it felt a little cramped in his flat, and Draco wasn't paticularly happy about it.

Draco and Harry had, to everyone's surprise, become friends when they both became Aurors after the war. Of course, there had been bickering at first, but when they were assigned their first case together, they were forced to push their previous judgements aside and be able to communicate civilly, at least. What came of that was more than just a civil conversation, but a friendship. A friendship of almost five years now, which baffled Draco completely. Thinking of where his life ended up, his mind drifted to his parents. His mother was cleared of charges for her act of saving Harry's life, but Lucius was shipped off to Azkaban, piles of evidence against him, which Draco wasn't the least bit disappointed about. In fact, most of the reason he became an Auror was to find people like him and lock them up.

He sighed in annoyance as yet another person bumped into him, not even offering an apology. He pursed his lips and was about to dismiss himself to the balcony of the damn place when someone caught his eye. A woman, actually. A . . . very pretty woman. She was wearing a slightly too-long dress and black tights and shoes, the outfit screaming it was entirely out of fashion, which Draco thought was oddly refreshing - very cute, if he did say so himself. He turned his head fully to the woman, and noted her brown eyes and pale skin and slightly bushy hair. . . .

_Oh, no_, he thought, turning his body to her now, squinting, _That is _not_ Granger. It can't be. That woman is way too beautiful to be monstrous-haired, know-it-all Granger. Well, yeah, her hair's a little bushy, but it doesn't look like it could swallow a live human being like before - _

Hermione casually glanced over the room and caught his eye, doing a double take when she found he was staring. She gave him a slightly weirded-out look, then looked back to Ginny Potter, whom she was talking to, sipping her champagne.

Did she recognize him? It certainly took him a while. Hermione worked in a totally different depertament now - Department of Smothering House Elves and Other Such Creatures Who Don't Want To Be Bothered. Or something like that. The last time he saw her was when they both were at their first day at the Ministry, and they spared each other curt nods before going seperate ways. He wondered how her life was now.

He almost laughed at the kind of face his Hogwarts self would pull at that passing thought. _What do you care? She's just a stupid Mudblood!,_ he'd exclaim, a sickening grimace on his face.

_Yeah, and you're a spoiled, evil, manipulative, conniving, cowardly, ignorant, egotistical brat. Who wins?_

"Draco!"

Draco shook himself from his thoughts and turned to find Harry there, beaming. The Boy-Who-Lived clamped a hand on his shoulder, and Draco noticed the bloke was a bit tipsy from the flush on his cheeks.

Draco smirked and studied his friend, calculating just how intoxicated he was. "Hey there, birthday boy. Having fun?"

"Oh, it's brilliant, Draco, thanks for coming," Harry exclaimed, a little to loudly. His hand was still on Draco's shoulder, and he felt Harry slightly leaning against him. "You know, you should try the champagne, it's _fabulous_."

"I have a glass in my hand, Harry." Draco said, smiling dryly as he tipped it to him.

Harry glanced at it. "Right. Well, there's actually someone I want you to see. You remember Astoria Greengrass?"

"You mean my ex-fiancee?" Draco asked through gritted teeth, refusing to move when Harry tugged at him.

"Yes, that's the one!" he said, lifting a decisive finger in the air. "And I invited her, just for you, because you are a good friend of mine, and a good friend deserves a good deed from another good friend, and that - "

"Harry, you _insufferable _prat - "

But Draco was cut off as Ginny and Hermione walked up, Ginny grabbing onto her husbands arm with a sigh.

"This happens _every_ year," she grumbled, lifting his arm around her shoudlers to keep him up. "_Dear,_ can you stay awake to at least blow out the candles?"

He grinned a goofy grin and tapped a finger to her nose. "Anything for you, schmookie wookie."

Draco snorted and Ginny rolled her eyes, dragging Harry away and grumbling incoherently. Hermione started to follow, but Ginny shot her a look, which Draco could only assume was a woman thing because he had no idea what their exchange of looks meant. He stood there with a hand in his pocket and sipping the last of his champagne, which he set on the ledge next to him. When he looked back at Hermione, she was awkwardly standing there, biting her lip. Draco smirked and leaned against the wall again, shoving his other hand in his pocket.

"Well, well, Granger," he mused, "Fancy seeing you here."

She met his gaze and her anxious look went away. She raised an eyebrow as she took in his stature. "Well aren't you the epitome of 'cocky'?"

He ignored that with another smirk, and said instead, "I bet you never thought you'd see me at Harry Potter's birthday, did you?

She crossed her arms over her chest. "I admit, I knew you and Harry were friends but I honestly didn't know how close you were until recently."

"Yes, well, the impossible has happened." he chuckled, almost to himself.

She smiled a small smile at him, and that was when he noticed the sparkling in her eyes, a life in them he hadn't cared to notice before. Oh, Merlin, he sounded like a badly-written romance novel, but he found it completed her character, and made her that much more attractive to him. He must've been staring longer than he'd thought, because she was staring at him and calling his name the next thing he knew.

"Oh, sorry," Draco murmured, then, after a moment, asked, "Would you like to go out on the balcony with me?"

"Um," she said, biting her lip and looking around anxiously. Finally, she said, "Yeah, sure."

It was then that Draco lead the distastrous way out to the balcony, sliding past masses of bodies, dodging spilt wine and peoples swinging arms, and avoiding walking through a group conversation. When they finally made it, Draco immediately went to the railing, where the Potters did have quite a good view of Muggle London. Hermione joined him, and it was a while before she spoke up.

"You know, I had a crush on you a few years ago." she admitted.

He turned his head to her, his face incredulous. "Excuse me? What do you mean by 'a few years'?"

"I mean, a few years ago. We were about eighteen." she replied, smiling.

"But - but we never even saw each other." he chuckled.

"Well, I saw you, but you never really noticed me," she clarified, "It was more of an infatuation, I guess."

Draco chuckled again, shaking his head as he looked back to the view. "That's crazy."

"Yes, well, I never told anyone. Good-Two-Shoes Granger with Draco Malfoy? It'd cause a scandal." she said knowingly, shooting him a smirk.

They both laughed lightly, and after another moment, Draco asked, "So, what happened to you, Hermione? You work in the Regulation of Wild and Sometimes Highly Dangerous Animals Department, right?"

She gave him an even glance, but he could see the amusement in her eyes. "That's just cruel. Way to insult my job."

"I'm sorry, I have a lousy memory." he said, trying to suppress his laughter.

"Yes, I work at the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures," she corrected pointedly, "And I do enjoy it. Though, I sort of miss the adventures of before the war though. When it was just Ron, Harry and I."

"You mean the adventures minus the running for your life part." he muttered, looking at his hands.

"Yeah, except that part." she murmured, and he felt her gaze on him.

_Way to put a damper on the mood, Draco._

He sighed and looked up at her, smirking again. "Well? Any boyfriends? Husbands? Fiancees? Take your pick."

"None. Surely you know this. Witch Weekly raved for months after Ron and I broke up two years ago." she scoffed, shaking her head.

He shrugged. "Not really into Witch Weekly, to be honest."

"You sound like you're ashamed of that." she noted, amused.

"Very."

She laughed and he cast her a smile.

They talked. And talked. And smiled. One hour. And talked. They sat in the chairs. And talked. Two hours. And laughed. And talked. Three hours.

"So you're saying my outfit isn't fashionable?" Hermione laughed, "I don't know whether to laugh at you or be ashamed that you know more about fashion than I do."

"Hey, I'm not saying - " he started, laughing, but he was cut off when Ginny popped her head out the door.

"You guys are still out here? Everyone left an hour ago!" she exclaimed.

They exchanged bewildered glances. "Oh, sorry, Gin. We must've lost track of time." Hermione apologized with a frown.

A knowing glint came into her eye and she shrugged. "No problem. As long as you're enjoying yourselves. But I'd leave now if I were you, unless you want to witness-slash-smell-slash-hear Harry puking his guts out."

They both grimaced.

"No, thank you." Draco said, standing. Hermione stood, too, and there was an awkward silence.

"Alright, then, I'll just leave you two alone," Ginny said, clearing her throat. "'Night, then."

There was another silence after she left, and after a moment, Draco sighed to fill the quiet, then said, despite his better judgement, "Alright, then, I think I'll head home to spare myself of Harry's . . . waste."

He grimaced and Hermione laughed, nodding. "Yeah, me, too. This was fun, Draco."

He smiled back at her. "It definately was."

Niether of them moved, and finally Draco heaved a huge sigh.

"Listen, I was wondering if you . . . if you'd like to do something like this again . . . but on a, er, a . . . but at someplace. Else." he explained lamely.

She raised an eyebrow. "On a . . . date?"

"Yeah . . . Yeah, on a date."

"Sure," she said, a smile growing on her face. "I'd like that."

He nodded and smiled at her, before he turned to Apparate away. But Hermione grabbed his shoulder and gently turned him around to kiss his cheek. She leaned back and smiled at him, giving him a wink before she Apparated away.

He touched his cheek. He didn't know who really kissed people on the cheek anymore, but he sure did like it.

He sure did like _her_.


End file.
